China's national rice research center and a famous Israeli bio-technology company signed a cooperation agreement Monday to jointly test bio-technology components in selected crops and develop super hybrid rice.

Professor Yuan Longping, director of the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center (CNHRRDC), said at the signing ceremony that the cooperation is a pilot effort in this field and it will take at least 5 years to bring the technology developed in the experiment into market.

Dr. Vered Yesodi, chief executive officer of the Israeli private agro-biotechnology company Ferti Seeds, expressed his confidence that the new technology will develop new high-yield rice hybrids and related technologies for China. She said the cooperation is the first of its kind between the two countries.

The CNHRRDC and FertiSeeds hope that the hybrid seeds based on FertiSeeds technology will promote the economical production of seeds that will significantly improve yield and quality for such major crops as rice and cotton.

Professor Yuan, 74, who is known as the father of hybrid rice in China, shared 2004 Israeli Wolf Prize in Agriculture with Professor Steven Tanksley of US Cornell University. The prize was awarded by Israeli President Moshe Katsav in Jerusalem on Sunday night.

Since 1978, five or six such prizes have been annually granted to outstanding scientists and artists worldwide for their great achievements. Yuan is the first Chinese scientist to win the prize with an award of US$100,000.

(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2004)